The scars of childbirth were still healing on Amelia Reyes Jimenez's stomach in 2008 when police came to her Phoenix apartment and took her three-month-old daughter from her arms.

Three and a half years later, Reyes Jimenez and her four children have become statistics in the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration. Each year thousands of children of undocumented immigrants, like Amelia's kids, wind up in foster care when their parents are arrested for immigration violations. Some are even adopted by U.S. citizens while their parents are held in federal detention centers or deported back to their native countries.

Reyes Jimenez's son and three daughters are now living in foster care in Phoenix, and are awaiting possible adoption. Reyes Jimenez is back in Mexico, her parental rights terminated by an Arizona judge, and she cries when she remembers the raid that began it all.

Some are even adopted by U.S. citizens while their parents are held in federal detention centers or deported back to their native countries.

Easy way to prevent this: The parents agree to deportation and take the kids with them.

But they evidently value their continued ability to mooch off the American taxpayer more than they do family unity.

Question: When are we going to read sob stories about families broken up and kids left behind when parents are arrested and sent to prison for ordinary crimes like dealing drugs or tax evasion? Why is illegal immigration such a special crime worthy of this sympathy to the exclusion of all others?

5
posted on 02/02/2012 10:38:35 AM PST
by Vigilanteman
(Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)

This is so wrong on so many levels. Is the father an illegal? If not, why were the children not put in his custody? The son is 13 and the daughters are older - all are US Citizens (born here) so she has been an illegal for over a decade.

Anyone who plans to adopt these children should be aware of this tragedy.

IMHO all the children should be sent to their mother until she can meet all legal requirements, apply for a legal visa and return - with a sponsor and a job.

10
posted on 02/02/2012 10:44:48 AM PST
by sodpoodle
( Newt - God has tested him for a reason...... to celebrate life and embrace the future.)

We had no problem shipping Elian Gonzalez back to a brutal regime; why is it so difficult for us to put these families on a one way train to Chihuaua? The kids are citizens (whether we like it or not); they can come back when they are adults, if they want.

She can stop making babies as an illegal alien in this country. She wanted kids who were American citizens? Well, they are and she’s not. I’d ship’em all back to Mexico together- maybe this policy will make them rethink ‘anchor babies’.

“It really puts parents in this terrible position of having to make a choice,” said Rabin. “Do I fight my deportation and risk the clock ticking and facing termination of parental rights? Or do I take the deportation and try to fight from Mexico, or wherever I'm from, to get my child back?”

Seems like a simple choice. Unless some sort of abuse or neglect took place, and assuming the parent's detention by immigration was the sole basis for the children being in the foster care system, I would think it would be routine to return the children to their parents, once they return to their home countries.

Of course, an even better and simpler solution would be to either remain in your home country or seek to immigrate here LEGALLY in the first place. Invading a foreign nation, is not the best way to maintain family stability.

The illegal featured in the article brings to mind the murderer who kills both of his parents and then demands leniency because he is an orphan.

Her legal argument is that her deportation would cause harm to 3 American citizens. Well, if she had not broken the law in the first place, they would be Mexican citizens like their mother and this heartbreaking situation would not exist.

“...all are US Citizens (born here) so she has been an illegal for over a decade.”

The holding in Wong Kim Ark is that the children born here to legal resident aliens are citizens per the 14th Amendment.

In the case of illegal aliens from Mexico, the Mexican government has insisted that wherever Mexicans go, Mexico exists. Therefore illegal alien Mexicans are always under the sovereignty of Mexico and their children are Mexican citizens. If a Mexican citizen is in the U.S. as a legal resident alien and has children born here in the U.S., registering their births here provides them with 14th Amendment citizenship.

To be native born in the U.S., one must be born here under the jurisdiction of the United States.

Gov. Jindal’s parents were students in Louisiana when he was born four months after their arrival from India. Therefore he is considered a native born citizen as they were legal residents.

There are activist lawyers working in immigration law who vigorouly disagree with the above. My suggestion is to read the 14th Amendment for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

Our laws are being subverted by those who hate the U.S. and want to see her destroyed, both from within and without. Insisting that our laws be upheld is our first line of defence against treason.

Hello? Are they saying she was not ALLOWED to take her baby back to Mexico?? I sincerely doubt that. Just don’t come here to have your baby. At any rate, if they are doing a baby dump here, I’m sure those babies will have loved, safe loves in law abiding American families.

>>>Hello? Are they saying she was not ALLOWED to take her baby back to Mexico?? I sincerely doubt that. Just dont come here to have your baby. At any rate, if they are doing a baby dump here, Im sure those babies will have loved, safe loves in law abiding American families.<<<

The article has more details. Basically, she left a disabled child home alone (she claims it was a miscommunication with other family members) and the police came. She was charged with child endangerment and detained on immigration charges.

She chose to fight the deportation, and while the case lignered on for over two years, with her in detention, an Arizona judge terminated her parental rights. The children are now in foster care and apparently available for adoption.

It seems that if she had not chosen to fight the deportation, she could have taken the children back to Mexico with her, but this is not 100% clear in the article.

So you think it is wrong and heartless for these kids to go into foster care? Being an illegal alien is a crime in the US (well, supposedly). Do you advocate that children of parents who commit any other crime US not be put into the system while their parents resolve the issue?

Obviously, this woman is trying to game the system by drumming up sympathy for her plight, the plight that she herself created. She wants to stay here just because her children are considered citizens (since they were born on US soil, that’s another issue entirely!!) even though she blatantly committed a crime.

1. Endangerment of a child
2. Abandonment of a child
3. Entering the country illegally
4. Working illegally
5. My guess is she had committed other forms of fraud to get her apartment and live here.

Now, in the best interest of the children, you want this felon to have custody.

The first one of these kids that gets sent home and is abused and dies in Mexico, ABC will have a big expose on how the US government failed the child, who is, after all, a US citizen, by sending the child to an abusive or negligent parent.

Then you can come on here and cry, “Something must be done!” Yeah, undo the LAST rule you made up when something HAD to be done. When you break the law, you role the dice. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. If you have something you don’t want to lose, don’t make it a part of the bet.

I have no idea what is happening in different areas but in some cases children of inmates are taken away- parental rights severed and children are adopted out frequently. It depends on the individual circumstances- as it also does for illegal aliens. Most illegals have the option of taking their citizen children with them when deported or leaving them in the U.S. with family or others of their choice. Individual circumstances determine each case. If there is child abuse, other criminal charges on the parents, etc, then the children can be taken away just like the children of anyone can be taken away depending on circumstances.

This article is written to cause confusion and support for illegals that are being deported. When parents make a CHOICE to break the law, they do put their parental rights in danger- and every day in this country parental rights are taken away from citizen inmates for a variety of reasons.

39
posted on 02/02/2012 2:28:42 PM PST
by Tammy8
(~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)

I have no idea what is happening in different areas but in some cases children of inmates are taken away- parental rights severed and children are adopted out frequently. It depends on the individual circumstances- as it also does for illegal aliens. Most illegals have the option of taking their citizen children with them when deported or leaving them in the U.S. with family or others of their choice. Individual circumstances determine each case. If there is child abuse, other criminal charges on the parents, etc, then the children can be taken away just like the children of anyone can be taken away depending on circumstances.

This article is written to cause confusion and support for illegals that are being deported. When parents make a CHOICE to break the law, they do put their parental rights in danger- and every day in this country parental rights are taken away from citizen inmates for a variety of reasons.

40
posted on 02/02/2012 2:31:34 PM PST
by Tammy8
(~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)

“I have no idea what is happening in different areas but in some cases children of inmates are taken away- parental rights severed and children are adopted out frequently”

It doesn’t happen “frequently,” and only in extreme cases (one parent murders another, or the parent injured the child).

And I’m not defending illegal immigration. I think she should be deported and her minor children should go with her, even if they’re U.S. citizens, if she doesn’t have a U.S. family to care for them. But it should be HER decision — not the state’s.

WTH are you talking about? The police showed up to investigate CHILD ENDANGERMENT. This isn’t Mrs. Cleaver. Sure, if she were American she’d have other legal options. She’s not American. If she wants her kids back, she should work with HER government’s embassy in the US. Good luck since her kids are US citizens.

Now, why is that, you ask. Because the illegals and their Marxist pals in Washington WANTED it that way. That’s right. They WANTED their children to have US citizenship automatically. Well, the Mexicans got it. This is a natural result of them getting their way. As soon as they change the law back so their kids are just as illegal as they are and they don’t get to go to our free to them schools and they don’t get free to them healthcare and they aren’t taking Americans’ jobs illegally and they start paying all the taxes citizens pay, I’ll agree with you. Until then, it sucks to be her.

I hope she goes and tells ALLLL her Mexican friends how horrible we are in America so they can keep their law breaking butts in Mexico.

Children are taken from inmates all the time- yes frequently, especially if there is child abuse/neglect.

Illegals are normally allowed to make the choice to take their children when deported- there has to be more to this story. She was accused of neglecting a child- correct? I don’t think her losing her kids has to do with her illegal status- I think it has to do with her parenting skills- or lack of.

43
posted on 02/02/2012 5:04:48 PM PST
by Tammy8
(~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)

She was charged with neglect of a child because her handicapped/disabled child was left alone according to the article.

When people violate laws they put themselves in a position to possibly lose their children. That is a fact, in some states it is very common for inmates to lose their children based only on their criminal behavior- and in others there has to be some type of abuse/neglect of a child in order to take the children. There is also a federal law concerning children in foster care that they can only remain in the system a certain time period (I think it is less than a year) before the parental rights will be terminated. Any incarcerated parent- citizen or illegal has to deal with that law if they are incarcerated for more than the time frame and have no one to care for their children. There are also parenting plans for children in foster care to be reunited with parents- inmates cannot usually meet the requirements because they are locked up- parenting classes, counseling and other common requirements are not available at most jails/prisons for anyone to access. Many advocates of inmate rights and the ACLU have been fighting against that for several years now. These circumstances do not only happen to illegals, I have family that works in corrections and they tell me it is not unusual for inmates to lose their children if they are charged with neglect/abuse or have no responsible person to care for their children while incarcerated.

I know most deported illegals do get to either take their children with them or choose responsible people here to keep them here, there has to be more to this story, yet the story does state she was charged with neglect of a child.

I also note this about this article- talk about agenda:
By LAUREN GILGER, CHARLES GORRA, and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Feb. 2, 2012(ALSO contributing  noted at the end of article):
This is the second story in a series from the Brian Ross Investigative Units 2011 Carnegie Fellows, five student journalists who initiated and led a reporting project on the impact of the federal governments enforcement of immigration law. Read the first story here. The journalists are Lauren Gilger, Charles Gorra, Josh Haskell, Robin Respaut, and Selly Thiam.

46
posted on 02/03/2012 2:11:53 AM PST
by Tammy8
(~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)

The time frame is longer than I thought but this is the law that is in contention when it comes to parental rights of inmates:

Copyright (c) 2006 Duquesne University Duquesne Law Review COMMENT: Racing Against the ASFA Clock: How Incarcerated Parents Lose More Than Freedom Fall, 2006 45 Duq. L. Rev. 83 Author Emily K. Nicholson Excerpt I. INTRODUCTION The Adoption and Safe Families Act (hereinafter "ASFA") was signed into federal law by President Bill Clinton in 1997. 1 ASFA's primary goal is to reduce the length of time children spend in foster care by expediting the route to permanency, preferably through adoption. 2 In order for a child to be adopted, however, the parental rights of both the mother and father must be terminated. ASFA facilitates this process by mandating the commencement of termination proceedings after a child has been in foster care for fifteen of the most recent twenty-two months (hereinafter "15/22 provision"). 3

This law applies to everyone and inmates especially have to worry about it if their children end up in the system. This is not something that is just used against illegals as the article would lead you to believe but to all parents. It doesn't sound fair- but what is fair to the children? Is it fair to be stuck in the failed foster care system when you could be adopted if your parent was not incarcerated? On top of the ramifications of this law the woman in the article was also charged with neglect of a child, a handicapped child which likely is more serious under the disablity laws than neglect of children with no disablities.

47
posted on 02/03/2012 2:46:04 AM PST
by Tammy8
(~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)

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